


An Infinite Fall from Grace

by Kokoai



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Emotional, Gen, Mad Paradox - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-29 00:48:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21401407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kokoai/pseuds/Kokoai
Summary: Admits the endlessly spanning threads of time, Add had traversed so many he barely had a grip on himself. But he wouldn't stop. Not until he found the one he wanted. Or until someone lead to him giving himself to the fabric of space and time.
Kudos: 20





	An Infinite Fall from Grace

**Author's Note:**

> I've known Edward "Add" Grenore for a whole two weeks, but he's my son, I'm baking all the cookies for MP even as I write fics where he suffers.

Endless possibilities, infinite timelines, each one drained more and more energy from him. Every jump left part of himself behind.That wouldn’t stop him. Somewhere in the expanse of time and space there  _ had _ to be a way back home. That hope was the only thing that kept him from becoming like his other selves. Although some days, the promise of a virtual reality sounded like a world he could settle for. 

Veins of white split the darkness around him, seconds falling like sand, shards of pink fell as if a wall had crumbled. Where would he end up now? What point would this Edward be at? Maybe there would be more instances of Asker succeeding. Or perhaps this time Grace would triumph. A deep breath went into his lungs as everything both slipped away and fell into place simultaneously. Ocean waves lapped around him as gravity gripped onto what little it could. 

The empty dullness whisked away like a silk table cloth beneath dishes. Then a gentle, warm wind caressed his cheek. Spring, he knew this wind well. He needn’t survey the surroundings to know where he had fallen. All necessary details etched into the molecules making up this world, the very essence that his current existence thrived on. 

Warmth against his skin a feeling long forgotten. Previous worlds had been bleak at best. Add must be happy here. Yes, the strings of time seemed to be colored around the emotions of himself that belonged there. 

A whirring hit his ears. Sometimes his own memory astounded him. 

“Agh, why does it keep falling?” Add, no Edward, grumbled aloud as a small round machine rolled through the grass before him. An early prototype of Dynamo. He felt a previous him would smile, but emotions were something else foreign to him these days. 

Add watched himself tinker with the inner mechanics. Oh how naive he once was. Barely understanding how to install a motor, much less an efficient one. Of course it wouldn’t fly with those rusty parts. Although for what he had at hand, Edward did well. Surely this would spur in later times.

“How’s it going, Edward?” Add turned around at that soft voice, one that  _ almost _ matched his memories. 

“Father won’t like it…” Tears pricked at the corners of Edward’s eyes, but he wiped them away before they could evolve. 

“You’re creating machines from scratch. Any parent would be joyed.” Her smile was genuine. Her words as far from it. Not that Edward could hear that pang of fear behind Grace’s tone. A convincing mask she wore. If you hadn’t seen it infinite times. 

The only time lines where Asker was actually proud of Add were the ones were he became nothing more than a mindless weapon adhering to every whim Asker could conceive. 

Something in his chest pounded. Could the jewel embedded there have pulsated again? The last time it had…

“Why don’t you go get ready for dinner.” Grace patted Edward’s head. 

“Will father be there?”

“He’s been buried in his research all day.” To Add’s ears that meant Asker had yelled at her, even raised a hand to her. Although she didn’t have any visible marks. Her eyes were sunken in though, the exhaustion dragging her gracefulness down. Small signs a child couldn’t see but Add saw them in every time line. Every. Single. One. 

Edward nodded, scooped up the Nasod parts. Grace convinced him to go ahead with the promise of a surprise present later. 

Her hair flowed in the wind as she turned her gaze towards the sky. 

Add might have cocked his head. She never lingered randomly like this. Again, he felt that strange sensation in his chest. Could it simply be the thud of a doomed time line? Although none of the previous ones had been this intense. 

“I knew this place was special.” Grace mused to herself. Her gaze traveled around, as if looking for something between the blades of grass and empty air. 

“This isn’t the first time. As illogical as it is, I know it’s true. You’re here aren’t you Edward? Or shall I call you Add?” 

Add froze. Each tick of time around him pounded against everything that he was or had been. She looked over her shoulder when he’d been too close, shivered when he dared to think about reaching for her hand. 

She had  _ never _ acknowledged him.

For the first time in an eternity, Add was lost. Words were pointless. Actions couldn’t be seen. How she even knew defied everything he knew. 

“I suppose, If you’re here...then your father’s plan failed. At least in your timeline.” 

Add felt salt sting his eyes. Whether he was even capable of crying had been a question lost to the sands of time. 

“You’re not like the others I’ve seen though.” 

So she had seen his other selves. To not be fazed by any of it though. To see what he’d become across many universes and still smile at this version of him.

“Well. I can’t even see you, but your energy is the same. The same as his.” She paused to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. 

“Asking you anything is pointless I know. I shouldn’t know anyway. At least let me say that no matter what you become, you’re still my Edward.” As she finished his name, she turned, and smiled directly at him. 

Once more his chest ached. This time it wasn’t the jewel. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he crumpled. Everything faded to black and shimmers of pink. Her image lingered in his mind. Just what versions of him had she seen? Had she truly seen the monster he had become in various timelines? Did she have a clue as to the monster  _ this _ Add was? 

He reached a hand out. She had offered her hand in the moment he fell. Somehow, in all the realms of possibility, a version of Grace had seen him without actually seeing him. 

That ever present icy chill ran through his body with increased intensity. That trip strained what was left of him. A fleeting thought of using a burst to return to that time. But why? That Grace had her own Add. Even if he tried to alter that timeline...she wouldn’t look at him the same. Nor would it be  _ his _ Grace.

His Grace…

How many versions of her had he seen? How many kept smiling through all the pain and anguish. How many continued to radiate through the fabric of space no matter where he went. And yet, he couldn’t return to his home. To his own mother. 

That thought, that one ate at him like no other. Pink specks like ants in the trillions crawled over his skin. What was left of it anyway. This body couldn’t take much more, already pushed well passed its limits. 

“Mother…” his voice rippled, echoed, distorted in countless ways. Somewhere, sometime, another him would twitch at the ghostly wail. 

Exhaustion. That’s what this was. Add had finally given up the fight. Physicality would do no good to someone with no home. If he wove himself into the fabric of time he supposed that would be the closest he’d ever get to his Grace. 

Another pulsating from his jewel, except in rapid fire. A thud resounded through every molecule bonding him together. Yes, he could melt and dissolve and become grains of time ticking throughout existence. Or, he could meld his soul into everything that was, had been, and would be, and manage to keep some existence that could still be called Add. 

If not for himself, then for the Graces that had cried over his death. The ones who had lost him too soon. Each and every Grace that accepted him and his other selves as they were. 

In the endless expanses of the universe, surely he could find more timelines yet to be created. Ones where Grace could see him even. Or at least find a way to communicate with her. Then he could apologize for not being a better son. For becoming a monster over and over again. For failing to save her every single time. Even for the versions of him that had killed her.

Yes, he would bind his existence to the singular existence that was Grace Grenore. He would continue to exist and traverse the worlds for her sake alone. 

That was the life Edward “Mad Paradox” Grenore would choose. 

This time.


End file.
